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Living With The Lions Sports Travel

Martin Johnson, the England manager, has offered a degree of hope for the English players who have been overlooked by the selection committee who picked the squad for the British and Irish Lions. Johnson says that his English players who hoped to make the tour of South Africa, the latest of the British Lions rugby tours, could still get a chance as the players who are currently in the squad could be beset by injuries.

Johnson added that by playing first class rugby for England, his players will make sure they’re match fit and in the thoughts of the Lions selectors. England have a series of games against the Pumas (Argentina) this summer, which should help his players stay sharp.

Two of the England players who were omitted from the squad were Tom Croft and Delon Armitage, but Johnson believes they may still make the rugby tour if injuries go their way.

I texted a few of the guys last week and reminded them that injuries happen on Lions tours.

If there are injuries, the best place they can be is playing tough rugby.

England’s series against Argentina won’t be hindered too much by the Lions tour as England only has eight players involved, one of their lowest turnouts for years. Johnson declared that despite the missing players, England aims to win the two games against one of the strongest emerging rugby nations, stating:

This is not a development tour. We are there to win the Test matches. I don’t want people to think it doesn’t matter because it is a development tour. We will put out our best team available to win that Test match.

Munster player Tomas O’Leary is set to miss the British and Irish Lions rugby tour of South Africa after he broke his ankle last week playing for his club side against Welsh outfit Scarlets.

However, Ian McGeechan, the head coach for the Lions, stated he won’t be rushed into naming a player to replace O’Leary ahead of the Lions first game at the end of May, where the Lions face Highveld XV.

McGeechan stated:

I’m not looking to name a replacement for 10 to 14 days. There’s still some rugby to watch.

There are several players in contention to replace the injured Irishman, including Scottish duo Chris Cusiter and Mike Blair, Danny Care of England, Dwayne Peel of Wales and Ireland’s Peter Stringer.

Should Chris Cusiter be called up to the British Lions squad, his involvement would impact on his club games for French side Perpignan. He could potentially have club games at the same time as the first few Lions fixtures.

Scotland captain Mike Blair was a surprise omission from the Lions squad when it was announced. He remains quietly confident that he’ll get his chance:

I’m confident in my abilities as a player and it’s up to the selectors. If they want me, then great news. If not, you keep on sticking in there and see what happens.

In the last three or four weeks I have been happy with my form and I will just wait and see. It was frustrating for Scottish rugby to only have two guys in the squad. The selectors have got a type of player they are looking for. All we can do is keeping pushing our case.

The British Lions squad to face the Springboks in this year’s Lions rugby tour has been announced and there have been some notable omissions from Wales and Lions coach Warren Gatland’s selection. The biggest shocks are that the captains of England, Scotland and Gatland’s own Wales, Ryan Jones, have all been left out.

Gatland has remained steadfast over his decision to leave Jones out of the squad, claiming his national skipper isn’t in good form and doesn’t deserve a place in the Lions team.

The squad has been picked on form and he is not playing well enough at the moment.

I hope he will take his disappointment on the chin and I am sure he will continue to work hard.

England forward Tom Croft has also been left out of the squad to play against South Africa, and Gatland claims he was closer to being selected than Ryan Jones.

Tom was very, very close. He is a very good athlete, a good line-out forward. He is very, very unlucky I think.

There was serious debate about combinations, experience, players fighting in the trenches if they had to.

We have got a big pack with players we know who are physical but who can also carry the ball.

Of the 37 players selected, almost half of them were from the Welsh side that won the Grand Slam last year, but came up short to Ireland this year.

The last Wales coach to be involved with the British and Irish Lions was Graham Henry, whose involvement is widely believed to have contributed to his downfall as Wales coach as the politics between the home nations’ camps drew him in.

Freddie Flintoff’s Chennai defeated Kevin Pietersen’s Bangalore in their Indian Premier League match this week, allowing Freddie to get one up on his England teammate. Freddie’s Super Kings romped to a 92 run win over Pietersen’s Royal Challengers to head to the top of the IPL table.

Despite Flintoff and Pietersen being the most expensive players in the Indian Premier League, they were both eclipsed by teammates in the IPL clash. Pietersen embarrassingly lost his wicket for a duck, while Flintoff fared marginally better, scoring 22 runs. Mathew Hayden knocked 65 in his team’s victory.

Pietersen was out lbw, but naturally disputes the decision, stating:

“I think I got a little knick on it but such is life.”

Pietersen did find more enjoyment with the ball in his hand, as he dismissed Parthiv Patel with his first delivery to end the Chennai opening stand. Pietersen also had a chance to embarrass his England colleague when he bowled at him later in the game. However Freddie held his nerve and won the battle of the former England captains.

Freddie certainly enjoyed his day more, taking the wicket of Ross Taylor (caught and bowled) as well as catching Rahul Dravid.

Sale Sharks have been hit with a £5,000 fine and a one point deduction for fielding an unregistered player in their league game against Harlequins. The unregistered player was hooker David Ward, and Sale lost the game to Harlequins 38-20 in March.

James Jennings, the Sale chief, stated about the fine and deduction:

“We are considering what actions may be taken. The club are very disappointed that an administration failure has resulted in this sanction.”

Sale Sharks are now five points adrift of a play-off spot, so need to record a bonus point and win their last game this weekend against Northampton and also hope that other results turn in their favour. Sale’s recent form has been poor and looks like costing them a place in the play-offs, as last week’s win against Harlequins was just their second win in seven league games.

Currently Bath and London Irish are in the driving seat for the play-off spots, but defeat to either would allow Sale Sharks to capitalise in their final home game on Saturday. It looks unlikely that Sale will succeed however as London Irish are playing Worcester, currently second from the bottom, and Bath are at home to Saracens, who lie ninth in the league.

He’s England’s talisman, their hero, and according to many, the man who won England the World Cup. However, the magical number 10, Jonny Wilkinson, could be about to head to France to play for French side Toulon this summer.

Jonny Wilkinson currently plays his rugby for Newcastle Falcons, but has been injured since the end of September last year and hasn’t kicked a ball in anger since. Jonny is now in talks with Toulon over what could be a huge money move for the injury prone Englishman.

Philippe Saint-Andre is the director of rugby for Toulon, he stated:

“Jonny’s people are in talks with the Toulon chairman.

“I would obviously like to have as many good players as possible next season and Jonny is a top-quality player.”

There could even be a bidding war in France for Jonny’s signature, as Racing Metro, who play their rugby in Paris, are also after the star.

Tim Buttimore is the agent for Jonny Wilkinson and he emphasised that despite the talks between the two parties being ongoing, Wilkinson is still working on fitness so that he can resume playing for Newcastle Falcons this season.

Toulon are owned by the millionaire Mourad Boudjellal, who has assembled a star studded team in France that includes the former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga.

Twinkle toed ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ star, Darren Gough, could be about to make a sensational return to cricket with Yorkshire, if the rumours are to be believed. Gough first appeared for Yorkshire at Headingley in 1989 and some twenty years later he could be about to return.

However, Stewart Regan, the chief executive for Yorkshire, has played down the rumours that Gough could be picking up the ball for his home town team once more in this season’s Twenty20 campaign.

Gough had retired from first class cricket, but at 38 he’s still a fit man and potentially capable of playing the shorter game.

Stewart Regan stated in an interview with the BBC:

“It’s not out of the question because we said that we’d talk to Darren once the season was underway.

“We said we’d see how he was performing, but I would say that at this stage it’s a long way off.”

Darren Gough retired last year after spending two spells at Yorkshire and having amassed a total of 855 career wickets. Gough did state then that he would like to play in the Twenty20 Cup cricket tour this season, which starts next month.

Regan added that Gough had always intended to keep up with his cricket and his fitness levels:

“When Darren left the club we talked to him about the future.

“He said that he was still intending to play cricket for the PCA Masters and was still intending to keep himself in good shape.”

Another of England’s World Cup winning stars, Josh Lewsey, has announced that he will retire from the game of rugby at the end of the season. Josh has played fifty-five times for England in the last decade, and quit international rugby in 2008.

Lewsey has also played 259 for his club side Wasps. Despite announcing his retirement from the game, Lewsey would still like to play a part in the British and Irish Lions rugby tour to South Africa later this year. Lewsey stated:

I have never taken part in a winning Lions Test series. I would dearly love to go.

Lewsey’s director of football at Wasps, Ian McGeechan, gave a glowing tribute to his star after their win against Newcastle this weekend:

There aren’t many English backs who will go home with the silverware he’s collected, with World Cups, 10 trophies with Wasps and a Lions tour.

He’s been hugely significant in English rugby and the same at the club.

In his England rugby career Lewsey has scored twenty-two tries, plus he has also played for the Lions in his ten year career.

Lewsey explained how he could have played on, but had to think of his future outside of the game of rugby union.

I am 32 and I suppose I could have gone on for a few more years.

But Vanessa (his wife) is finishing her doctorate, you have to think about real life and responsibility, the possibility of a family.

Two of England’s former cricket heroes, Ian Bell and former captain Michael Vaughan, are hoping to take their first steps towards an England recall for the Ashes today as they take to the field against Durham, representing the MCC and Lord’s.

Bell and Vaughan will both hope to get into the England team to face the Aussies later this year, and today they have a chance to prove that they’re worth considering on the part of the selectors.

Bell lost his England place in the recent Test series against the Windies to Owais Shah. Bell has a real chance to steak his claim for an Ashes spot though as Shah is set to play in the IPL just before the first summer Test, which begins on May 6th.

The ECB has declared Ian Bell and Michael Vaughan available for all cricket in the run up to the first Test Match in the West Indies cricket tour of England.

This will allow Ian Bell to show his form in County Cricket before the Test series is due to begin.

Michael Vaughan resigned as England captain in August last year, and since then hasn’t played for England. He’ll be hoping to put that right before the Ashes series begins.

South Africa’s bowling power outclassed the Aussies as they defeated them by seven wickets in the ODI, levelling the series. Ninteen-year-old Wayne Parnell produced an outstanding display with the ball, dismissing 4-25. Parnell’s bowling, coupled with the figures from Dale Steyn who dismissed 4-27 reduced the once formidable Australian batting order to just 40-6 early on in the innings.

The Aussies were eventually all out for just 145.

Parnell was playing just his second one day international, but created panic in the Aussie batting order.

When South Africa took up the bat they beat the Australian total in just 26.2 overs. The Aussies won the toss but the decision to bat first wasn’t as easy as it was in Durban.

Things could have been worse for Australia if it wasn’t for Callum Ferguson, who knocked a half century, and Michael Johnson pitched in with 30 runs.

Any hope the Aussies had of making headway into the South Africa batting order was quickly dismissed as Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis knocked 69 for South Africa’s second wicket.